Long-duration Storytelling: Study of Factors Influencing Retention Ability of Brands

Abstract

In the current cluttered context, delivering brand communication competently to the intended target audience is a big challenge. Given the multiple options available in terms of brands and channels, creating the right impact is a tough call. One format which has emerged in recent times is long-duration storytelling. As a creative strategy, the format is gaining an immense prominence primarily due to its potential to hold audiences and leave an enduring impact on their minds. The trend also shows that brands embracing storytelling are moving beyond the traditional 30- and 45-s duration, resorting to longer formats of more than 60 s. Though there is some research on the ability of brand elements and other factors like culture and family influencing customer attitudes through storytelling, marketers also try to influence behaviour by adding elements of storytelling that demand realism, conciseness, reversal, humour and personal relevance. Yet, despite recent advances, there is limited research on long-format storytelling beyond 60 s. This study aims at investigating factors that can influence the retention ability of brands in commercials above 60 s. The outcome is significant from a practical perspective as it endeavours to assist brand and media practitioners in leveraging the factors that truly matter for enhancing the efficacy of long-duration storytelling above 60 s.

Keywords

Storytelling commercial creative format duration brand retention ability

Introduction

In the last couple of years, the outlook towards advertising and communication has witnessed a huge transformation not just in terms of approach but also in terms of the reach. With every progression in technology, viewers are getting more empowered (Donaton, 2016). The continuously evolving media ecology has assumed different proportions resulting in the sudden explosion of digital media, thus adding an all-new dimension to the creative landscape. Digital or through-the-line communication is posing a threat to the otherwise stable traditional above-the-line (ATL) and below-the-line (BTL) communication platforms. This has tilted the balance in favour of content marketing, and therefore when it comes to getting a mindshare for the brand and share of voice for the channel, formats like storytelling are being practiced to attract the attention of the viewers by taking them through a matter-of-fact yet experiential voyage of emotions in doing so.

Statistics across different reports boast of a 30 per cent growth with a fabulous ₹94.9 billion in terms of financial figures, reinforcing that digital media is one of the most rapidly escalating media of communication today. However, reports also cite that when it comes to the channel of preference for brand communication, television continues to be a favourite reflecting a steady 8 per cent growth rate (Tewari, 2017).

With the competition among brands on a rise, connecting with the target audience and being in their evoked set for a longer duration has emerged as a formidable challenge. The cluttered scenario has given way to a new trend. Traditionally, ads and commercials which used to be 30 s duration, in some cases stretching it to 45 s, have started becoming longer, extending to a minute or even more (Trivedi, 2017).

The basic trial for brands, therefore, is creating clutter-breaking content with an emphasis on relevance and impact, through storytelling (Nambiar, 2018).

The inclination clearly seems to be drifting from merely innovating with creative advertising to engrossing the audience with alluring content. Therefore, the current tendency among brand and advertising practitioners appears to be disseminating brand understanding through persuasive stories (Denning, 2006) with a duration that may sometimes extend to as long as 7 min or even more (Sen, 2015).

Urban Ladder, the online furniture store, for instance, came up with a 7.16-min duration film called ‘The Homecoming’ where the furniture brand played a vital role in bringing two generations of a family closer. The film, with a strong utilitarian value, takes the audience through a typical family saga displaying attachment of the older generation to vintage things at home and hence their reluctance to adjust with new concepts of living. The storytelling in this brand commercial tries to bring out brand relevance through the use of Slice of Life as the creative format (Vinaya, 2015).

Why are stories assuming such prominence can be understood from our own life journey where stories form not just a compulsory part of our childhood but are also an inseparable part of our growing up process. Creative strategists have realized a fundamental fact that unlike numbers, stories comprising content can be an easy and effective way of connecting and communicating with the intended target audience (Mattila, 2000).

In contrast to straight hardcore facts and numbers, brand managers and creative professionals, therefore, believe that stories help in better information processing and also creating a better perception about the brand.

Studies also reveal that storytelling is one of the most optimal ways of striking an emotional chord with the customers. Especially telling stories based on real life has the ability to evoke feelings and emotions (Olenski, 2015).

The format is gaining popularity as stories have the ability to facilitate the sharing of experiences related to a brand along with the potential to gain consumer trust, thus building a strong rapport with him/her in the process.

A good representation of this aspect of storytelling can be Hewlett Packard’s ‘Bend the rules’ campaign in 2015, for Pavilion x360 brand, which was launched with a global makeover mission to bond with the millennial. The campaign roped in stories of real-life young go-getters who were ‘bending the rules’ of success (Vinaya, 2015).

The growth and popularity of telling stories for message communication also seem to be drawing inspiration from the make-believe world of Indian Cinema, known for its knack of telling fascinating stories in the most befitting manner. The primary learning is that the formats of delivering stories may be versatile and may change with times, but the fundamental premise remains entertaining the viewers with content which is relevant and with which they can connect and find some kind of relation and synergy (Das, 2012).

Therefore, whenever brands embrace a storytelling format in their communication, a majority of the times the appeal used is emotional. In doing so, the brand may be an established one in its maturity phase like Google, Coke, Nescafe, or it can even be an upcoming brand like OPPO smartphone in its embryonic phase. The rationale being that consumers find a better connection and are able to resonate more intensely with a brand through the sentimental route rather than through a rational approach. In this context, the use of teasers is one of the most commonly observed creative strategies for taking the stories ahead by throwing in an element of surprise while brand-building.

Brand practitioners are desperately trying to find a place for their brands in the consideration set of the consumers so that during the actual purchase the story reminds them of the brand and vice versa. The strategy clearly seems to be delivering engaging content by increasing the time of a commercial so that viewers are able to easily associate with the brands. Formats like the Slice of Life, dramatizing the message and content, getting actual users to talk in the form of testimonials, generating influence through a celebrity endorsing effectively, advocating a social cause through stories is the latest trend.

Whichever the format used in conveying stories via commercials, the implementation is inclined at bonding with the audience both in their conscious and inert state of mind (Woodside, Sood, & Miller, 2008).

Samsung home appliances division had released a 4-min-long commercial with a format for their television brand in 2017. The commercial showcased the service of Samsung underlining its vision of building long-lasting relationships with its consumers through timely service clearly depicted through the tagline—We’ll Take Care of You. The unique part of this campaign was the presence of a visually challenged protagonist without the illustration of any brand feature or attribute. The campaign objective clearly was to reach out to consumers located in India across remotest geographies and make an emotional connect with the customers (Roy, 2017).

In the present context, duration has emerged as a very significant and key driver, particularly when stories are at the creative end for driving the brand message and stimulating the viewers for a decisive action. To be relevant, brands need to be a part of consumers’ routine life and conversations rather than merely providing information about their distinctiveness and edge.

Brands like Dabur Vatika and several others which have chosen the route of telling a story clearly endorse that stories have a very strong capability not just to hold audience attention but also to leave an indelible mark on their mind, driving perceptions, opinions and facilitating decision-making as well.

The major point of concern which is being addressed by this particular study is with reference to the duration of commercials where storytelling is the format in use.

The aim is to detect the factors in a storytelling format that can actually captivate the target audience, stir them and pull them towards the brand if the duration of the commercial is more than the traditional time slot of 30 s or 45 s. Does it also enhance the ability to retain the featured brand?

There are three main constructs intended in this study. The storytelling construct refers to the manner in which the commercial is executed. Duration above 60 s is the other important construct which aims at the time span of the commercial beyond the traditional. The third construct is the ability to retain the brand given the duration and format that aims at measuring the likelihood of a brand staying in the consumer’s mind for a longer period of time, thereby connecting with the story.

The literature reviewed for the study facilitated the researchers in proposing a conceptual framework which is further analysed for arriving at logical outcomes. To support the existing literature and derive an elaborate conceptual framework, a pilot study was also conducted post the review of the literature. The methodology segment of this study views and rationalizes the sample selected for this study along with the measuring tools utilized for data collection, analysis and interpretation. The findings and results from this study along with the scope for further research not only add to the current understanding and knowledge in this domain but also offer new relevant and innovative implications for brand communication and media practitioners.

Review of Literature and Development of Conceptual Framework

The literature review taken into account for this study is wide-ranging. It covers existing suppositions, investigations and experimental studies in the area of storytelling, its efficacy as a creative format, studies related to role and relevance of message, content and meaningfulness in the format with special emphasis on previous studies that measured the effects of repetition, length (duration), frequency and placement in the commercial. It also tries to take a look at the influence that might be created on the consumers’ experience with the brand when the approach is about sending the brand-related message through a creative story. The aim of studying broader aspects related to storytelling and duration was to detect gaps in the literature to derive influencing factors and build a conceptual framework for validation through this study.

Storytelling as a Creative Format

Storytelling as a format has evolved over the years. However, telling stories to connect with the target audience has been a prevalent communication strategy since long and this is supported by various studies.

The primary theory of storytelling says that we have a story-based recollection in our memory (Schank, 1990); for that reason, whatever statistics, reality or knowledge is stacked by us is banked, evoked and retrieved in the way of meaningful stories whenever needed. As observed earlier in the study, it is a much-known fact that stories can be remembered effortlessly, unlike real hardcore facts. The evidence very much exists in the form of our folk tales in our glorious historical past that is captured in manuscripts.

One of the reasons why storytelling is evolving as a popular format is the ability to convey a message in an effective manner. While statistics reflect reality, stories can convey messages in a precise and emotionally powerful manner. They are unforgettable and give viewers something relatable (Gotter, 2017).

According to studies, the technique of telling stories with a narrative style of execution is an effective tool to communicate the message which the brand intends to convey to the target audience. It has the ability to hold and captivate the target audience and therefore can be a better tool for displaying the appealing attributes of the products so that consumers are able to invest more time thinking about them (Escalas, 1998)

Different studies supporting the narrative philosophy believe that consumers may show an inclination for episodically storing brand-related knowledge in the form of stories at regular time intervals (Bruner, 1991; Woodside, Sood, & Miller, 2008).

Literature, therefore, acknowledges that stories have a very strong potential to grab viewers’ attention and even empathize with them. The viewers seem to believe that whatever is being narrated through the storytelling in an advertisement is actually happening to them and thus feel connected. Apparently brand and advertising practitioners in the current scenario seem to have realized that telling a story is the most impactful delivery tool available to recite its core meaning and rationale of being to its intended audience (Lien & Chen, 2013), especially when the aim of the brand is to stand out and get a clutter- free edge.

Escalas (1998) and Laskey, Day, and Crask (1989) in their research findings observe that the story featured in an advertisement can be a slice of life or it could be something fictional, emphasizing on the brand image, the user image, the different use occasions or even the specific product class.

Google, for instance, uses fiction for its commercials while Cadburys Celebration campaign is more into the Slice of Life format with a humour appeal. This also highlights the fact that storytelling can be conveyed through a range of emotional appeals.

Research also draws a point that too much distraction within a story in the form of appeals and emotions may hinder information processing (Chiu, Hsieh, & Kuo, 2012; Escalas, 2006).

According to communication strategists, therefore, brand storytelling is crucial, because while statistics authenticate an argument, the story is the argument (Gotter, 2017).

Storytelling format calls for developing an effective way of communicating the marketer’s message to their customers, blending logical appeals like feature, typically used by technology products like Samsung and Nokia, or product service popularity appeal blended with a dash of emotions to draw the consumer’s attention and influence him/her to buy the products.

Advertisements containing information and entertainment have a constructive role to play and therefore have a high worth (Ducoffe, 1995).

Existing studies in the area of storytelling also have a context to story comprehension, its effect in the field of advertising and how it drives information processing. Some researchers have also established that consumers realize their association with a brand in the form of stories (Deighton, Romer, & McQueen, 1989; Escalas, 2006).

If the supposition is addressed, storytelling can facilitate prospective customers’ trust to invest in the brand (Gotter, 2017).

The previous discussion helps us establish that storytelling can create a differentiator and give the featured brand a competitive edge. It also advocates the importance of information and comprehension. This calls for the study of the other factors that can bring about a better informativeness to the story and therefore enhance the retention ability of the brands.

The Relevance of Brand Storytelling

Throughout our life, we as individuals have the tendency to stock and derive a large amount of data and facts within a story. There is thorough research done, proving the ability of content and characters used in stories in enhancing the ability of retention of brands as well as stories (Woodside et al., 2008).

Messages delivered through stories are relatable and engaging as they are specific and can also generate an emotional impact (Gotter, 2017).

According to Smith and Wintrob (2013), visibility of brands cannot be forced upon the consumers; however, making them a part of a bigger story can make the brand more relevant, and meaningful to the consumers. Brand attitudes can be driven positively by pragmatism (realism) preciseness (conciseness) and humour in a story, as observed by a study (Chiu et al., 2012).

Exemplifying, life insurance as a category has reached its maturity in the Indian market, and most of the companies, including market leaders LIC, have been resorting to long-format storytelling with fear and other rational appeals to give a reminder and draw the consumers. However, to differentiate from the clutter, two of the most prominent private life insurance companies of India, HDFC Life and AEGON Religare, chose the humour route in their storytelling to engage consumers and drive their messages across, especially in the tax-saving season (Vinaya, 2015).

An important area addressed in literature is the attention-generation ability of ads with a story and the subsequent ability of viewers to process brand-related information through a storytelling format.

As consumers attain higher levels of processing, their subsequent ability to attend, comprehend, elaborate and gather verbal, non-verbal, attribute-based and emotional brand information in the ads also increases (MacInnis, Moorman, & Jaworski, 1991).

Contemporary development in the area of branding and communication propels the notion that telling a story can be one of the key constituents to appeal customers and also retain them. This has been attributed to the fact that stories can induce a positive action from a prospective consumer by virtue of prized, pertinent and compelling content by the featured brand, in sharp contrast to conservative traditional advertising, which is usually built around a theme or content that is not direct (Pulizzi, 2012).

A story for that reason is expected to be meaningful to the consumer in sync with their needs and one that is woven around caring content. It is thus a format that is being leveraged by practitioners to invigorate their brands and add a new dimension to them. Eventually, as per Yu (2014) the format of telling stories is becoming increasingly popular as a core element of brand content strategy.

Escalas (2006) in her research emphasizes the role of narrative processing in building or boosting self–brand connections, rationalizing that people tend to deduce and find the meaning of their experiences, by syncing them with a story. The findings of the study also suggest that in response to an advertisement that conveys a story, narrative processing can develop a link between a brand and the self, when consumers endeavour to plot narrative information received with stories in their memory.

Smith and Wintrob (2013) advocate that in order to create an impactful brand narrative, a verbalized form of the brand’s character and personality should be at the fore such that all other components unfold and therefore a persona-focused storytelling is crucial to branding. The brand persona enables a long-lasting emotional connect with the target audience as it offers a reference point that is easily relatable and recognizable. Brand persona reﬂects the audience’s learning about the values and behaviour of the brand.

Therefore, leveraging a celebrity in a storytelling format is a common strategy to get a rub of relevance and stronger association between the brand, the content and the target audience.

Brands like Urban Ladder execute their stories through the mode of endorsement by a celebrity. This has a dual purpose firstly to fortify the story and then to craft a character for the brand with which the audience can easily gel.

The character or persona of a brand has an important role to play while telling stories through commercials. As reasoned out by Herskovitz and Crystal (2010), it is critical for the viewers to have an understanding of the brand persona which can result in an interest in the brand story. The study suggests that the strength of a brand is connected with its personality and thereby the promise to behavioural implications.

The above research findings point out the crucial role of a brand’s personality in creating stable emotional relationships with the viewers, also enabling them to blend and find sync with the personality and its subsequent potential to lend the brand and then also the story an instant recall ability familiarity and memorability.

It is common knowledge in the branding and communication domain that apart from being a distinguishing factor, the brand identity is as good as the perception it is able to create.

Taking a cue from brands like Nescafe, Titan, Google and Coke or for that matter even Asian Paints, most of them try to strike a very personal rapport with their viewers through the stories communicated in their commercials. Through a situation portrayed, there is a clear picture of the brand as an empathetic solution provider, appreciating consumer concerns.

Recreating an experience while conveying a brand story resonates well with the target audience, and it is further strengthened if the story depicts human trials.

As discussed earlier, stories with a hint of real-life scenarios are the ones which have a faster ability to gain a share of mind.

The generation in the digital era appears to be too engrossed with their individual lives. So much so that they seem to have no time for building and nurturing relationships and therefore barely care if their critical relations stumble and saturate. Most youngsters fail to recognize the value of crucial relationships in their lives, and it is this existing scenario that has given way to address the concept through emotional storytelling.

This is quite obvious from the commercials of brands like Dabur Vatika or Wagh Bakri tea where the focus of the storytelling is on the human emotions without trying to overstress or push their unique selling proposition. This is a clear signalling of the fact that stories with a connect are preferred as they are able to reach out easily to the viewers with their brand message further boosting the holding capacity of the brands (Love, 2008).

Sometimes too much focus on the story in a commercial may prove to be detrimental for the brand, diluting its recall and diverting the viewer’s focus on the brand. More attention needs to be on the content within the story.

Green and Brock (2002) propose that in telling a story through brand commercials, the audience needs to be completely transpired into a totally different world that is disconnected from the real world. The resultant of such a psychological transfer into an unreal scenario can reduce negative feedback, driving stronger and deeper association with the characters in the story and the brands in the picture.

The above theory leads to an assumption that in the said state viewers may create opinions about the brand and also show more inclination towards the brand based on the way it is portrayed by the story moving away from the actual disagreements and perspectives related to the product or brand that is featured in the commercial.

This again gives rise to a new debate about the viewer’s level of involvement. What is more important for them and what are they able to retain in such a context, the brand or the content? If the duration is longer with a higher frequency and if there is a repetition of the commercial telling a brand story, what kind of viewer response will it generate with reference to the brand and also to the storytelling?

Effect of Duration in Storytelling Format

Despite short attention span becoming a major constraint among techno-savvy viewers, the current trend clearly shows an inclination towards longer duration of advertisements for conveying the brand message. Brand recall is an important parameter for evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of an advertisement through such long formats.

Research too establishes that an advertisement has a greater likelihood of translating into brand awareness if it is capable of involving all three memory banks comprising of knowledge, emotion and action (Tulving, 1985) in the minds of the target audience.

Studies conducted to measure the effect and role of duration reveal that time duration of 30 s is the appropriate time to design a creative memorable television commercial that can engage, make an emotional and intellectual association with the viewers and encourage them to acquire more learning from it (Ciccarelli, 2014).

Studies also depict that the rising popularity of these long-duration ads can be attributed to four crucial communication considerations—the impact it generates, the creative aspect, relevance and repeat value. The most significant finding, therefore, is that storytelling format is limited not by the time or duration but its ability to be distinctive and clutter breaking (Kohli, 2015).

In case of a long-duration commercial, good content can fuel engagement as well as a high level of retention ability, the duration or length of the commercial, therefore, is no more an obstacle to repeat viewing (Sen, 2015).

Brands today are thus making an attempt to narrate stories which are convincing, persuasive engaging and can trigger conversations enabled by long-format ads. With the absence of limitation on length and budget, it is permitting brands to recount better stories and strike an intense connect with its Target audience.

Especially when it comes to categories which are not so routine, studies report that a long-format advertisement above 60 s can well be used as a tool to strike a chord while making time and social space available for a brand to construct its own story, blended with consumer conversations (Vinaya, 2015).

For instance, medical equipment maker Omron with a view to stimulating its home healthcare products had rolled out a long duration 6.46-min film in 2015 called Tumhaari Amma (Yours sincerely—mother). It was a slice of life commercial that derived its creative concept emerging out of the wonderful bonding between a working daughter in a big city and her small-town mother, and their subsequent role reversal. Wherein the daughter switches into the role of a concerned worried mother addressing her mom as Beta (My dear child, through her letters), while reminding her to keep a check on her BP regularly. The message was very smoothly put forward through storytelling for a very rational category like medical equipment.

Trivedi (2017), in his study on long-format advertising, brings to light that preference of 15-s ads vis-à-vis a 30-s commercial by brand managers to realize the fact that media productivity goals hampered the efficacy of the advertisement. Results of one of the similar researches examining the association between duration of advertisements and their efficiency highlights that 15-s ads are 50–90 per cent more influential in bringing about a knowledge and attitudinal change as against the 30-s advertisements (Mord & Gilson, 1985).

Studies also indicate cost factor as one of the primary reasons for the popularity of shorter duration commercials among the advertisers. Such commercials, therefore, have an advantage from the channel or media cost and investment perspective. Due to their affordability, they can be run more frequently for a longer period of time (Singh & Cole, 1993).

However, researchers like Mord and Gilson (1985), Fabian (1986), Rethans, Swasy and Marks (1986), Rogers (1995), and Singh, Rothschild and Churchil (1988) in separate studies observe the efficacy of longer duration ads and also emphasise on their ability to increase responsiveness recall, attitude & therefore the likeability towards an ad. Patzer (1991) supports these observations.

Dunst (1993) in his study reviews the dimension of shorter duration in a commercial. For the purpose of the study, the researcher reduces 30 s advertising spot to 15 s. The study conducted on advertising practitioners very clearly brings to light that condensing the duration of a commercial has a weakening effect on its creativity and persuasion ability. The reason as reported by the researcher is that reducing or cutting down the duration to 15 s decreases the impact of the visual images as well as the time that can be allotted to the product shots, thereby reducing the scope of storytelling.

Mord and Gilson (1985) further underline the ineffectiveness of shorter duration in their study by detecting that viewers find a 15-s commercial not just less engaging, but also is less on information credibility, more annoying and difficult to understand than a 30-s commercial. Research also shows that duration does play a crucial role when the storytelling format is being practiced. If marketers hasten telling the brand story to avoid getting tuned out, it may affect the process of brand recall. But on the contrary, too lengthy narratives may also affect the captivation quotient of the story (Jones, 2016).

The above studies give a clear direction that duration is an important factor in brand storytelling; however, there can be other elements which can contribute and thus enhance the efficacy of duration.

There are studies which point out that consumers are able to extract better knowledge and also retain the brand message if there is a repetition of the commercial with more amplification of the brand message (Ephron, 1995).

Repeating the commercials can be a simple way out to fathom the consumers’ brand-related knowledge (Koll, Wallpach, & Kreuzer, 2010), especially repeating those commercials which can provide a profound thought to consumer cognition (Escalas & Stern, 2003; Holt, 2004).

Refuting the above findings, it can be said that repetition may kill the curiosity quotient of the commercial, the reason being if the viewers have already viewed the commercial, then the interest level is likely to dip and so is the possibility of a repeat watch and viewership of the same commercial with a similar story.

Sen (2015) in her study addresses that that if long-format ads are coated with delicate shades of meaning and expression, they can get repeat views. Because while the viewer wants to know the end of the story in the first watch, they get into the finer points of the story and the storytelling in the subsequent views.

This understanding is a directive that if brands are considering a longer duration storytelling format for their commercials then they need to be extremely conscious about the content, which has to be stimulating and lead to a very high level of involvement and engagement with the viewer.

Advertising practitioners tend to repeat brand information frequently. Research suggests that the time of commercial has an effect on how viewers process the information with reference to the brand elements like brand name and other influences. When it comes to gathering brand knowledge and developing a positive attitude towards it, the 30-s time slot is considered to be more effective by the viewers vis-à-vis the 15 s slot (Singh & Cole, 1993).

The above studies therefore categorically propose that the shorter duration should be leveraged only to fortify the impact created by a commercial with a longer time span.

Therefore, in order to ensure a better brand recall and higher learning, extensively informative messages can lead to the desired effect (Peters & Bijmolt, 1997).

Rethans et al. (1986) in their research findings observe that when there is a continuous exposure of a new product through ads, then it may have a huge effect on the recall of the ad message and content; however, the attitudes may not show any significant impact. The above study also draws attention to the noticeable influence of the level of advertisement exposure on the learning and retention of brand-related information.

Research also shows that the recency of brand exposure enhances its salience, thus increasing the viewers’ ability to recall it (Alba & Chattopadhyay, 1986).

Anand and Strenthal (1990) propose that in case the viewers are able to process the message in a commercial effortlessly then the stimulus of continuous or repetitive advertising exposures may have a thinning effect on the assessment of brands in the commercial.

This leads to yet another important learning that the recall of brands is also driven by its placement in the story or message conveyed.

An experimental research (‘non-laboratory field testing’) conducted during Super Bowl, one of the most-watched and highly rated sporting events in the world, was aimed at investigating the consequence of frequency, duration and the placement on the recall of brands after a day following the event. Twenty-eight different brands were chosen for the study. The result of the study revealed that the recall of a brand message is better if it is positioned at the end of the event, while messages which were displayed in between or mid-event or at the start of the event had a comparatively lesser brand recall. The recall was also found to be better if the participants in the test were able to find relevance with the featured or projected brands. (Newell & Henderson, 1998)

The above research is found to be extremely relevant from the point of view of this study since it effectively addresses the interaction between length of a commercial, the number of times it is displayed (frequency) and also its placement on the brand recalled.

Despite some harmony with the existing studies, a research gap exists in terms of understanding the viewers’ capacity to retain a brand for a maximum time span given the duration of more than 60 s which has not been addressed by any of the studies.

The Pilot Study

To enable a better conceptual framework, the review of the literature was supported by a pilot study (see Table 1). Seven long-duration ads, between 2015 and 2017, more than a minute each (total duration of 30 min) with storytelling format were shown to two different groups of 15 each.

Table 1.

Pilot Study

Product and Category	Brand	Duration in Mins	Theme
Tomato ketchup/food	Kissan	3.27	Reviving the joys of togetherness Emotional appeal
Digital audio/Technology	Saregama Caravan	5.25	Launch of digital audio with preloaded songs. New category product. Continuous repetition on Tata Sky.
Hair oil and shampoo/Personal care (haircare range)	Dabur Vatika	4.04	# Brave and beautiful social message for cancer survivors.
Instant coffee	Nescafe	2.03	Beginning something new is tough. Relevant and known category Motivating the young TG. Slice of Life format used
Aviation	British Airways	6.30	Emotional deep bond with India. Emotional involvement.
Online furniture	Urban Ladder	7.17	Homecoming. Diwali special. Linking brand with the story and content
Bike/Automobile (two-wheeler)	Hero Moto Corp.	2.09	Celebrity endorsement with storytelling
Total duration		30

Source: Pilot study researchers’ compiled by the author-Tripti Dhote.

The ads selected were contemporary, scanned recently, relevant to the research theme and target audience and also readily available across media. Following were the ads displayed:

Both the controlled groups were asked to recall the attributes that they remembered about the displayed ads. The groups were also asked to recall the brands in the ads displayed:

Following are the three common aspects which were extracted from the pilot study:

Engagement and involvement with the story.

Stimulating content resulting in repeat watch and brand recall.

The relevance of the story leading to a better connect with the brand.

Therefore, this gap in literature generates a new unexplored area for research. With a dynamic consumer psychology, media fragmentation and brand clutter, it is imperative to figure out if the time span or the duration of more than 60 s utilizing the storytelling approach can be an important concern for the target audience to remember a brand for a longer period of time. What could be the other factors that can impact the retention ability given the duration?

Development of the Conceptual Framework

Based on the inferences drawn from the review of the literature and the pilot study, the authors could come up with the independent and dependent variables and also develop a conceptual framework (refer to Figure 1).

Accordingly, the effect of the independent variables, namely duration, story, relevance of the ad, frequency, informativeness of the content and placement of the brand message, on the dependent variable, namely retention ability of a brand, was studied.

Independent variables explained:

duration of the storytelling in the advertisement;

the story indicates the flow and execution of the format;

content refers to the information presented in the ads to the intended audience;

frequency refers to the number of times, that is, how often the ad/commercial is repeated;

brand Message refers to the placement of the brand in the commercial, that is, at the beginning, end or in the middle of the commercial; and

relevance implies the match between the ad being displayed and the need of the viewer for that product/service.

Figure 1.

Source: The authors.

Research Objective

To study the impact of identified factors on retention ability of brands in commercials above 60-s duration with a storytelling format.

Study Rationale and Relevance

The contemporary scenario reflects prominent brands resorting to the format of telling stories creatively in their commercials. An important issue here is with reference to the increased duration of such commercials, which in certain cases shows an extended duration as long as 60 s sometimes, even more, challenging the traditional 30-s slot. The review of literature initiated for this study addresses that there is research on the aspect of long-format advertisements and their effect on the recall of brands and the storytelling format, with few references to brand personality and experience.

However, most of the research done previously has been with respect to ads, which are 60 s or less. There is very little research on long ads of more than 60-s duration.

As defined by Trivedi (2017) in his study, ads lengthier than 60 s have been considered under the long-format advertisements category.

Various factors related to the ad, like duration, frequency content and so on have been identified as impacting brand recall but the extent of their impact in case of an ad longer than 60 s has not been studied. Further impact of these factors specifically in case of storytelling format also needs to be studied separately.

Methodology

Data and Sampling Plan

The conceptual consideration drawn out in this article has been derived from both primary and secondary sources. The research paper has been executed by following a triangulation method. Secondary data has been extracted and analysed, following an extensive review of the literature, from varied sources inclusive of academic Journals, newspaper articles and sites like afaqs.com, Indiantelevision.com. Economic Times e-paper, exchange 4 media, while YouTube was the channel used to conduct the pilot study taking ads of more than seconds’ duration adopting the storytelling approach.

Descriptive research along with a pilot was used for this study. Based on the literature review and keeping the output from the pilot in focus, a structured questionnaire was created and executed amongst a convenient sample consisting of youth with age ranging from 20 to 40 years. The rationale for selecting the sample was their awareness and exposure to commercials and also easy accessibility of these commercials on diverse techno-savvy platforms like YouTube, Voot and even different apps through mediums like tablets, laptops and cell phones.

Questionnaire-based survey method was used as the tool by most of the papers which studied the theme of storytelling in advertisements in a different context, and hence a similar method was used for data collection. The questionnaire was drafted on the basis of learnings from the literature review, and the pilot study was used to reinforce the learnings and explore new points for building the questionnaire.

A closed-ended questionnaire was created on a pre-established 5-point Likert scale (ranging from ‘strongly disagree’ to ‘strongly agree’ having 1—Strongly Disagree, 2—Disagree, 3—Neither Disagree nor Agree, 4—Agree, 5—Strongly Agree) and it was administered via the survey tool surveymonkeyonline.com. The face validity of the scale was ascertained by sharing the questionnaire with two leading researchers in the area of marketing. Their suggestions were incorporated to improvise the readability of the questions, thus establishing face validity. The questionnaire comprised of all the factors mentioned as the output of literature review and pilot study and after executing the face validity test. Thus, the total size of the questionnaire based on factors was 17 and additional demographic data like gender, age and so on were captured as part of the study.

A total of 300 people were surveyed using the questionnaire prepared. Sampling technique chosen for the study was quota sampling with male 63.5% and female 36.5%. This is depicted in Table 2. The exact purpose of the research was not explained to the respondents to avoid any biases. Of the 300 respondents, 56 responses were not filled completely, thus leaving the researcher with 244 valid responses for data analysis. SPSS was the software used for data coding.

Table 2.

Gender

		Frequency	Percent	Valid Percent	Cumulative Percent
Valid	Male	155	63.5	63.5	63.5
	Female	89	36.5	36.5	100.0
	Total	244	100.0	100.0

Source: The authors.

Measures

Five-point Likert scales were used to measure the constructs under question. The questionnaire was administered in English. The literature review identified flow of the story as the factor influencing retention ability. It was measured by taking a reference from Schank (1990). The placement of brand message in ad and content informativeness were measured using a scale from the research done by Chiu et al. (2012). Frequency and repetition of occurrence were measured adopting a scale from the research done by Ephron (1995) and Rethans et al. (1986). Based on the pilot study conducted, other factors, namely, duration of storytelling and relevance of the ad to the viewer were noted down as the input from participants. Retention ability was the dependent variable as seen in Figure 1. The questionnaire consisted of 17 items along with some demographic questions.

Statistical Tools Used

Cronbach’s alpha was performed using SPSS to establish the internal consistency of the scales. A full-scale reliability value in addition to variable-wise reliability is also executed. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure and Bartlett’s Test were also done for sampling adequacy and to figure out the usefulness of factor analysis of the data. For Cronbach’s alpha, the results are shown in Tables 3 and 4, and KMO and Bartlett’s test results are depicted in Table 5. Post this, principal component analysis (PCA) and rotated component matrix were executed and the results are depicted in Tables 6 and 7, respectively. Post identification of factors multiple linear regression was performed as shown in Table 8. Variance inflation factor (VIF) analysis was performed to which the result was satisfactory with no multicollinearity detected. Finally, based on the multiple linear regression, the final equation between dependent and independent variable was formed as the output of this research.

Hypothesis Development

In case of long-duration ads with a storytelling format

H1: Duration of storytelling in the advertisement has a positive effect on the retention ability of brands.

H2: The flow and engagement ability of the story, positively affects the retention ability of brands.

H3: Relevance of the ad to the need of the viewers has a positive effect on retention ability of brands.

H4: Frequency of ads has a positive effect on the retention ability of brands.

H5: Content informativeness has a positive effect on the retention ability of brands

H6: Placement of the brand message in the ad has a positive effect on retention ability of brands.

Data Analysis

Reliability and Validity

Cronbach’s Alpha

Cronbach’s alpha was executed using SPSS as a method to understand how intensely the set of items are linked to each other in the questionnaire.

The reliability analysis was done with the help of Cronbach’s alpha test. The output of Cronbach’s alpha comes out to be 0.793, and thus the result is satisfactory. This indicates a high level of internal consistency for our scale.

KMO and Bartlett’s Test

The KMO measure of sampling adequacy test was conducted for reflecting the proportion of variance in the variables that might be caused by underlying factors. The measure also indicated appropriateness of the data for factor analysis. The test measured sampling adequacy in the research study for each variable and complete model.

Table 3.

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach’s alpha	Cronbach’s alpha based on standardized items	No. of items
0.793	0.796	17

Source: The authors.

Table 4.

KMO and Bartlett’s Test

Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin Measure of sampling adequacy.		0.700
Bartlett’s test of sphericity	Approx. Chi-square	492.165
	df	136
	Sig.	0.000

Source: The authors.

Since KMO value is 0.700 which is greater than 0.500 and close to 1.0, it is an indication that factor analysis may be useful with the data. The approximate of chi-squared is 492.165 with 136 degrees of freedom, with a level of significance observed in this case being less than 0.05. This further indicated the usefulness of factor analysis of the data.

Principal Component Analysis

The PCA approach was carried out to detect the total variance in the data. PCA was essentially conducted as a statistical procedure which executes transformation to convert a set of observations of possibly correlated variables into a set of values of linearly uncorrelated variables called principal components. Since the objective of our study is to find the importance of the storytelling format in commercials and duration with respect to the retention ability of the brand, by applying PCA, we wanted to decipher other pervasive factors which might lead to a higher retention ability.

The eigen value is set at 1 to come up with those factors which displayed eigen value greater than 1 (>1) indicating that the factors display strong patterns with respect to respondents’ responses. In the present study, only the abovementioned six factors were extracted by combining the relevant variables.

Following is the output of rotated factor analysis. Rotation was executed by selecting the varimax with Kaiser normalization method (see Table 6) with maximum iteration set at 25. Value below 0.20 is suppressed in the output for clear visibility and easy segregation of pattern.

The following key factors were extracted as an output of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA):

the relevance of the ad to the viewer;

story (indicating the flow of the storytelling execution format);

duration of storytelling in the ad;

rate of occurrence (frequency);

brand message placement; and

content informativeness

Multiple Linear Regression

The above-mentioned factors were taken as independent variables and multiple linear regression was performed by taking retention ability as the dependent variable. The rationale behind doing multiple linear regression was to develop an equation modelling with a factor loading of each pervasive factor.

Accordingly, multiple linear regression was executed with a stepwise configuration.

The difference between R-square and adjusted R-square is less than 10% in each of the six models. Thus, the models are strong. Moreover, since R-square of Model 6 is highest, we take that model for further consideration.

Multicollinearity Test

This test was done using VIF Analysis. VIF values observed for each variable were below 5 and hence no multicollinearity issues were detected. VIF assesses whether factors are correlated to each other. The indication of the test is unreliability of the model in case of a high correlation, since the analysis shows VIF to be 1, a clear reflection that the model is strong, as the factors are not impacted by correlation with other factors.

Since the significance value is less than 0.005 for all the factors and since Model 6 has the highest R-squared value, an equation is formed (refer to Table 8) taking Model 6 into consideration.

Following is a predictive model (equation) that has been developed using multiple regression based on the responses generated from the samples.

Table 5.

Total Variance Explained

Component	Initial Eigenvalues			Extraction Sums of Squared			Rotation Sums of Squared
Component	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %
1	4.068	23.930	23.930	4.068	23.930	23.930	2.148	12.638	12.638
2	1.790	10.531	34.461	1.790	10.531	34.461	2.053	12.075	24.713
3	1.594	9.375	43.836	1.594	9.375	43.836	2.014	11.846	36.559
4	1.314	7.727	51.562	1.314	7.727	51.562	1.855	10.911	47.470
5	1.173	6.900	58.462	1.173	6.900	58.462	1.462	8.599	56.069
6	1.032	6.072	64.534	1.032	6.072	64.534	1.439	8.465	64.534
7	.887	5.216	69.750
8	.810	4.766	74.515
9	.732	4.307	78.822
10	.681	4.004	82.827
11	.604	3.552	86.379
12	.588	3.456	89.835
13	.482	2.834	92.669
14	.396	2.327	94.997
15	.345	2.032	97.028
16	.261	1.534	98.563
17	.244	1.437	100.000

Source: The authors.

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Table 6.

Rotated Component Matrix^a

	Component
	1	2	3	4	5	6
Long-duration storytelling format is effective when the content focuses on my need	0.829
Long-duration storytelling format is effective when the content establishes a link between my need and the brand	0.773					0.318
Long-duration storytelling format is effective when the brand category is relevant	0.637	0.236
Long-duration storytelling format is significant when the brand is new in the category	0.521				0.265
After watching a long-duration ad featuring a story, I feel emotionally involved with the content and it can change my attitude towards the brand		0.820
After watching a long-duration ad featuring a story, I immediately respond and feel connected with the brand		0.815
After watching a long-duration ad featuring a story, I seek more information about the brand due to the content		0.690			0.204
Longer the duration of storytelling in an advertisement higher is my involvement with the brand			0.870
Longer the duration of storytelling in an advertisement higher is my involvement with the content/theme			0.826
Longer the duration of storytelling in an advertisement, the story is remembered for long			0.633		0.254
Repetitive long-duration commercial with interesting storytelling can help me watch it over and over again				0.798		0.228
Repetitive long-duration commercial with storytelling help me connect with the characters and the content better				0.726		–0.301
Repetitive value of a long-duration commercial with storytelling help me remember the content and link it with the brand			0.230	0.678		0.285
I remember a brand for a long time when the story is blended with a central brand message					0.798
I remember a brand for a long time when the story opens with a brand message		0.240		0.245	0.699
I remember a brand for a long time when the story ends with a message full of content					0.232	0.813
Longer the duration of storytelling in an advertisement the brand is remembered for long because of the content	0.258			0.253		0.600
Extraction Method: Principal component analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser normalization.

Source: The authors.

Note: ^aRotation converged in 6 iterations.

Table 7.

Model Summary

Model	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate	Change Statistics
Model	R	R Square	Adjusted R Square	Std. Error of the Estimate	R Square Change	F Change	df1	df2	Sig. F Change
1	0.536^a	0.287	0.281	0.42972	0.287	45.133	1	112	0.000
2	0.679^b	0.461	0.451	0.37548	0.173	35.692	1	111	0.000
3	0.788^c	0.621	0.611	0.31621	0.160	46.509	1	110	0.000
4	0.870^d	0.757	0.748	0.25442	0.136	60.920	1	109	0.000
5	0.882^e	0.778	0.768	0.24397	0.022	10.542	1	108	0.002
6	0.893^f	0.798	0.786	0.23427	0.019	10.123	1	107	0.002

Source: The authors.

Note: ^aPredictors: (constant), duration.

^bPredictors: (constant), duration, story.

^cPredictors: (constant), duration, story, relevance.

^dPredictors: (constant), duration, story, relevance, frequency.

^ePredictors: (constant), duration, story, relevance, frequency, content.

^fPredictors: (constant), duration, story, relevance, frequency, content, brand message.

^gDependent variable: retention ability.

Table 8.

Linear Regression Equation

Retention Ability = 3.423 + 0.272 * (Duration of Storytelling) + 0.211 * (Flow of the Story) + 0.203 * (Relevance of the Ad to Viewer) + 0.187 * (Frequency) + 0.075 * (Content Informativeness) + 0.070 * (Placement of Brand Message in Ad)

Source: The authors.

Table 9.

Predictive Model

Retention Ability = 3.423 + 0.272 * (Duration of Storytelling) + 0.211 * (Flow of the Story) + 0.203 * (Relevance of the Ad to Viewer) + 0.187 * (Frequency)

Predictive model.

Source: The authors.

However, since the coefficient of Content Informativeness and placement of brand message in Ad is too less, the final model, keeping the critical factors derived by the analysis, is as follows:

Discussion of Results and Conclusion

The results reflect that a long-format storytelling can be seen as having a better retention ability. This is also supported by literature; as reported by Vinaya (2015), an advertisement above 60 s with a storytelling format can be effectively leveraged to connect with the viewers and also to make time and social space available for a brand to construct its own story while blending with the consumers’ conversations. However, this factor is influenced by the presence of other factors (see Figure 2).

Figure 2.

Source: The authors.

Top Four Identified Key Factors Contributing to the Retention Ability of Brands

Duration of storytelling: The length of ads considered for this study has been greater than 60 s. As detected in the analysis, the viewers felt that they can achieve a higher involvement with the brand and the content with a longer duration. The literature also supports that lengthier stories can bring about more repeat viewing to get into the finer details of the advertisement (Sen, 2015).

Flow of the story: The flow of the story is identified as the second most influencing factor. The indication is that viewers are able to instantly connect with the brand if the story is narrated with a certain flow, when it reflects a fresh view or some unique aspect, and as observed by Green and Brock (2002), stories need to transport the viewers into a different world away from the real world. As supported by Love (2008), if the stories are able to strike an emotional connect, they are preferred by viewers as they are able to reach out easily with their brand message, thus enhancing the retention ability of brands.

Relevance of the ad to the need of the viewer: If the viewer finds relevance with the content, then the ability to remember the brand is more and for a longer time period. The findings also suggest that the viewer is able to link the content with the brand, especially if the brand category is new. Apart from the creative angle, Relevance as per literature is one of the major factors why long-duration formats of advertisements are becoming increasingly popular (Kohli, 2015).

Frequency/rate of occurrence: Frequency or rate of occurrence is the other influencing factor which can have an impact on the viewers, but as per this study, the weightage is relatively lesser. This factor indicates the number of times that a viewer is exposed to a long-duration ad which for this study is above 60 s. As mentioned by participants during the pilot study, if the story is interesting then they may not mind repeat views. Literature also supports that if the content is good, it can drive better engagement and retention ability for the brand, and in that case the length of the commercial may be insignificant (Sen, 2015).

The placement of brand message and content informativeness, that is, where and how the brand message is placed within the commercial and informative content are also reflected as influencing factors for retention ability of the brand in ads above 60 s. However, these factors have a relatively lesser weight so far as this study’s findings are concerned.

Table 10.

Output

Hypothesis	Estimate	Support
H 1: Duration of Storytelling in Ad → Retention Ability	0.272	Yes
H 2: Flow of the Story → Retention Ability	0.211	Yes
H 3: Relevance of Ad with Customer Need → Retention Ability	0.203	Yes
H 4: Frequency of Ad → Retention Ability	0.187	Yes
H 5: Content Informativeness of Ad → Retention Ability	0.075	Yes, but minuscule
H 6: Placement of Brand Message in Ad → Retention Ability	0.07	Yes, but minuscule

Source: The authors.

Notes: Summary of hypothesis tests.

Limitations

Restriction of the sample to a particular age group was a limitation. At times, inactive passive and non-responsive attitude displayed by the survey participants posed a major impediment followed by their perception and interpretation of the questionnaire, which may have affected the results slightly.

Managerial Implications and Scope for Further Research

This study suggests that when a storytelling approach is being practiced, then the duration above 60 s is certainly an important concern for the viewers. The outcome generated from this study can have a beneficial effect on brand and communication practitioners as it tries to establish how and under which context a duration above 60 s can be optimally leveraged to influence and strengthen a positive retention ability for a particular brand.

The other implications include narrating the story in an interesting manner by considering the use of emotional appeals and curiosity to increase the viewer’s involvement with the story. Communication managers can add meaningfulness to the advertisement by stressing on the utilitarian value of the brand category and hence enhancing the relevance to the target audience. This can be especially effective if the brand is representing a new category. The implication for practitioners is to strike an association with the brand by emphasizing on the consumer need through storytelling in ads above 60 s. Creative formats like Slice of Life can be effectively leveraged for the purpose.

When managers are aiming at strategies to enhance the retention ability of their brand by way of an advertisement above 60 s where storytelling is the execution format, the number of times the commercial is displayed needs attention. Managers must consider displaying the ads when the target audience is in the information-seeking mode and can also consider increasing the frequency when their interest and attention levels are high.

The research can be taken forward by studying the relationship between gender and the duration of commercials executed with the storytelling approach.

Platforms used for communicating an advertisement can also be a significant influencing factor. Therefore, a similar relationship can be studied between different channels of communication apart from television.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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